Robertas Javtokas

Player profile

Javtokas had very good athletic ability when he was young, with long arms and good coordination. As a young player, he was a good jumper, who had a 40-inch vertical leap and he could easily dunk in traffic. He still has to work on his offensive technique and to improve his free-throw shooting. As a young player, he was good at running the floor and making plays on the perimeter, with his good athletic ability, nice size, and good leaping ability. He is a good rebounder, and a good defender as well. He once set a world record by dunking on a 12 foot high basket.

Europe

In 2000, Javtokas joined Lietuvos rytas and quickly became the best center in the Lithuanian League. Javtokas, playing alongside Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Arvydas Macijauskas, Simas Jasaitis and Rimantas Kaukėnas won the 2002 Lithuanian League championship and also the North European League championship. After the motorcycle crash, Javtokas missed the entire 2003 season and came back in 2004. In 2005, he won the EuroCup championship and he was named the EuroCup Finals MVP.

In 2006, with his help, Rytas made a strong debut in the EuroLeague, and also beat their main rival Žalgiris 4–0 in Lithuanian league finals series. The team also won the Baltic League Championship. After the season, Javtokas was disappointed that Rytas was not able to offer him a bigger pare of money and also was returning to the EuroCup instead of the EuroLeague, so he decided to play in another club.

He joined Panathinaikos for the 2006–07 season and with them he won the Greek League championship, the Greek Cup, and the EuroLeague (thus winning the coveted Basketball Triple Crown), although he played very limited minutes all season. On July 24, 2007, he signed a two-year contract with Dynamo Moscow of the Russian Super League A. In Dynamo, he improved his free throw percentage from 35.5% to 54.5%, and he improved in scoring average to 12.2 points per game. In 2009, he joined the Russian club Khimki Moscow Region. On July 15, 2010 he signed a two-year contract with the Spanish club Power Electronics Valencia.

In June 2011 he returned to Lithuania and signed a three-year contract with the pro club Žalgiris of the Lithuanian LKL. His contract was renewed in 2015. On June 20, 2012, Robertas Javtokas was named as one of the best EuroCup players of all time. He took 4th place out of 10. In 2015 his contract was extended for one more year. In 2016 his contract was further extended with Žalgiris.

On June 8, 2017, Javtokas announced his retirement from professional basketball. On June 9, 2017, he played his last game as a professional player.

NBA

Javtokas was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with 56th overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft. San Antonio Spurs retained his NBA draft right until Javtokas announced retirement.

After retirement

Following retirement from playing professional basketball in 2017, Javtokas expressed wish not to digress from basketball, and he was invited by Žalgiris Kaunas to become the sports director of the club.

EuroLeague career statistics

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

Lithuanian national team

Javtokas debuted with the senior men's Lithuanian national basketball team]] at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He averaged 8.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game. At the EuroBasket 2005, he played in 6 games for the Lithuanian men's national basketball team. During the tournament, he averaged 11.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. His 2-point field goal percentage was 61.7%, and his free-throw percentage was 47.1%.

He also played for Lithuania at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, where he won a bronze medal.

Team titles

Personal awards

Personal life

Javtokas attended to St. Vincent – St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, the same secondary school that LeBron James went to growing up. Javtokas also attended Bishop McGuinness High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for one year of high school during the 1997–1998 school year. His older brother Artūras Javtokas is a former basketball player.

Motorcycle crash

On May 1, 2002, while driving his Honda CBR1100XX motorcycle at a speed of around 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour) towards Vilnius, he had a serious accident. Approaching a side road, Javtokas started to pass a van, but the van driver did not see the motorcycle and turned left. There was no chance for Javtokas to stop and he hit the van, losing control but not the bike, which crashed into a car in the opposite lane. Javtokas flew dozens of meters and landed in bushes off the road, crushing his thighbone, breaking his shoulder, and injuring his knee and kidneys. He returned to basketball for the 2003–04 season.